Sleeved Amelie Sewalong - Part 3 - Attaching the Sleeves

Yesterday, we made it through prepping our bodice for sleeves. So today, we will tackle that tricky bit. If you haven't tackled sleeves before, that is ok! No need to worry. We are going to take this slow, and remember, this is just your first pancake! It's going to be fabulous because YOU accomplished a challenging task!

18) Using a long straight stitch, sew a line 1/4” / 0.6 cm from the edge of your fabric on your sleeve piece between the two notches. Sew a second line of long straight stitches 1/4” / 0.6 cm from your first row of stitches. Repeat on second sleeve.

19) Pull lightly on the bobbin threads. I like pulling on the bobbin thread as they are easier to manipulate as opposed to the top threads. When you pull on these threads, it will cause your sleeve to gather. We aren’t looking for huge gathers here, just a slight roundness to the sleeve cap- this will allow for full shoulder range of movement in your dress!

21) After you have this all pinned into place, you may notice that some places are puckering or have little gathers in them. Try to smooth these out as best you can as we aren’t sewing in a gathered sleeve here! We just want our sleeve to have a slight round to it for our shoulder's to properly fit in place.

22) When everything is looking good, go ahead and sew your sleeve into place. Make sure you have re-set your stitch length on your machine to no longer be a basting stitch. Repeat on the other sleeve & armhole!

If you happen to see any of your original basting stitches peeking through on the right side of your garment, go ahead and pull those out.

Feel free to give yourself a high five- you just took on set in sleeve and totally NAILED it! I’d say that calls for a sweet treat before moving on to the next step.

23) Finish your seams with your preferred method. I like to add a bit of fun at this step, so I opted to sew in a small strip of handmade bias binding!

24) Once you've finished those seams, pin your sleeve down to your bodice together at the side seam, making sure the right sides are together; Sew together & finish off that seam! I also added a bit of bias tape to finish off this seam!

25) Now that all the hard parts are done, let’s finish up our sleeve and hem it! Iron your sleeve hem back by 1/2” / 1.3 cm then again by 1/2” / 1.3 cm .

26) Pin your hem into place and sew along the edge.

Oh my goodness, look at how awesome you are! I hope you feel super impressed with yourself and feel like you can take on the sewing world now!